Midnight church services will not take place as churches adhere to the new SOPs in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. File Photo
KUCHING (Dec 30): There will not be any midnight church services tomorrow (Dec 30) to welcome the New Year, said Association of Churches Sarawak (ACS) chairman Archbishop Simon Poh.
He explained that the decision was made to comply with the latest standard operating procedures (SOP) issued by the Unit for Other Religions (Unifor) which stated that all church services to welcome the New Year are to end by 10pm tomorrow night.
“With Covid-19 still lingering around us, we know that any large gatherings are potential hotspots for infections, especially with a countdown party, where physical distancing and safety SOP will be difficult to maintain.
“When midnight services were held in our churches in the last few years, I had to remind our church members to remain vigilant when driving home from Church as there would be many other drivers returning from countdown parties. Police road blocks would often be set up to check that all drivers remain sober.
“In view of the safety of our church members, let us adhere to the newly-issued Unifor SOP. When all our churches are not gathering after 10pm on New Year’s Eve, we witness our Christian solidarity in this fight to contain Covid-19. This is also an act of our Christian charity for the common good of all people in Sarawak and Malaysia,” he said today.
Regarding church services on New Year’s Day on Friday, Poh said the Unifor SOP does not set any time schedule or time restriction which means that churches have the option to hold their services at any time on the day, which also happens to be a public holiday.
“For Catholic Church, instead of New Year church gathering, I am scheduling live-streaming of New Year Eve Mass Service from the Cathedral starting at 11.30pm on Dec 31 (tomorrow).
“I encourage your respective churches to do similar online prayer services at midnight or to schedule Church Services on New Year’s Day 2021,” added Poh, who is the Kuching Roman Catholic Archbishop.
Unifor director Richard Lon in his letter to ACS had said churches are allowed to hold prayers to welcome the New Year tomorrow but the cut-off time for such religious activities is at 10pm.
Richard also said Unifor seeks the assistance of all churches in Sarawak to remain vigilant and abide by the SOP, since Sarawak still records positive cases of Covid-19 daily.